Come, Get Your Peace

Our History

(13) Average attendance at Sunday services in 2001 was 24. On Trinity Sunday, May‘ 26, 2002, Holy Trinity Memorial Church will celebrate its 100th Anniversary with a service of thanksgiving and re-dedication. The Right Reverend Peter R. Coffin, Bishop of Ottawa will preside.

The Rector’s Warden in this Centennial Year is Glenn Wells and the People’s Warden is Isobel Tuttle. Carole Walsh is the Deputy Warden; Joan Wells is the Synod Member; Hazel Prunner is the Treasurer; and Susan Bradley is the Organist. The present clergy team consists of the Incumbent, the Rev. William Byers and the Assistant Curate, The Rev. Patricia Martin. Holy Trinity is a vital part of the three- point Parish of Morrisburg-Iroquois with its sister churches of St. James’, Morrisburg and St. John the Baptist, Iroquois.

As this congregation begins its second century in this building and its third century as part of the Christian presence in Riverside Heights and the eastern part of old Williamsburg Township, it seems timely to contemplate for a moment upon the future. The past has been steeped in history – so many important intersections with some of the key events of Canadian and North American history can be discerned. There have also been several times when one might have expected the last parishioner to pull up stakes and leave. Just as all has sometimes seemed lost, God’s gracious hand has reached down and gently urged the little flock, with its tiny house of worship, to take heart and journey on. Always at least a few have remained faithful. Such is still the case…..

So what might we hope for this Christian community in the future? In 2001, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada entered into a state of “full communion.” What could this mean for the people of St. John’s Lutheran and Holy Trinity Anglican Churches? Might this be an opportunity for healing and the possibility for new, creative forms of shared ministry in this community?

There is much history to celebrate along this St. Lawrence River. History is important. We need to learn from the past if we are to profit in the future. However, is it possible that we have concentrated too much on the past and not enough on the future? As one of my fellow priests reminds me so frequently, “Yesterday is history; tomorrow is mystery; today is a gift. That is why we call it the present.” Is it now time to celebrate the gift of the present and look forward with expectation and excitement to the mystery of the future? If God has remained faithful these many years, is there any reason to believe that God will not continue to remain faithful in the future?